Make Candy Cupcakes for a Valentine’s Day Party

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A few years back I had a vision for a cake that was next level, and we covered this beauty with candy from top to bottom. Well today, we’re doing it cupcake style! These candy cupcakes are a sweet idea for a Valentine’s Day party, or just something fun to do on an afternoon at home with your kiddos! Henry and Mags were helping me make these, and by “helping” I mean mostly eating all of the decorations. But who can resist a beautiful selection of pink, red, and white candies?! That’s half the fun. So here we go — let’s make candy cupcakes for a Valentine’s Day party!

Make Candy Cupcakes for a Valentine’s Day Party

Materials

cake mix (we used a box, obviously!)

cupcake liners

icing

decorative candies in a Valentine color palette

optional: gift box

Step 1: Gather all of your materials! We got everything but the cake mix at Michaels. They have a really great baking aisle, and right now all of their Valentine goodies are out too! We even got that pretty pink icing there. So grab some icing, cupcake liners, a cupcake baking tray if you need one, and your candies. We used a mix of their Valentine items, their standard cake decorating candies, and even some candy from the checkout aisle (hello, Swedish Fish!). You want to have a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes.

Step 2: Bake your cupcakes according to the instructions on your packaging. You want to be sure that you don’t overfill them with batter; about 3/4 full is just the right amount. And fuller than that and the cupcakes will have too much of a dome on top, which isn’t conducive to keeping the candy decorations on. No Valentine’s Day party wants cupcakes with candy sliding off of them! 😉

Step 3: Once your cupcakes have baked, allow them to thoroughly cool. While the cupcakes are cooling, set out all of your decorations so that they’re easily accessible. Also open your frosting. Once you start icing the cupcakes with the frosting, it’s best to place the candies on top right away so that they adhere well while the frosting is still wet.

Step 4: Frost your first cupcake. I like to apply a medium-thin layer; about an eighth of an inch is the perfect amount to hold the candies together without being too gloppy.

Step 5: Add your candies! What makes these cupcakes look particularly fun is the fact that every inch of frosting is covered with candy. So fit the candies together jigsaw puzzle-style, using smaller candies to fill in the blank spaces.

Step 6: If you are transporting the cupcakes, grab a cute gift box like this one from Michaels! If you show up at a Valentine’s Day party with a box of these beauties I can almost guarantee you’ll be the belle of the ball.